Chapter 38: The Gift

About ten minutes later, Mu Chenze came jogging back to Chu Xuan, carrying a woven plastic sack.

“Chu Xuan, your grilled fish fillet workshop is officially up and running. As your good buddy, I’ve got a gift for you to celebrate!”

He opened the sack and took out a brand new scale, handing it to Chu Xuan.

Chu Xuan felt a warm glow in her heart as she accepted it. “Since it’s from a good friend, I won’t be shy about taking it.”

She took the scale and examined the beam and the hook—good quality. There were two weights, one large and one small.

Just then, the bus returning to town arrived.

Chu Xuan put the scale into her basket and handed the pre-packed dozen or so steamed buns to Mu Chenze.

About twenty minutes later, they got off in town.

Mu Chenze scratched his head. “I’ve got something to do, so I won’t go with you.”

He turned to leave, but Chu Xuan reached out to stop him.

“Wait. Let’s settle up—I’ll pay you back.”

Mu Chenze had paid for the truck rental, Chu Xuan had covered the return bus fare, and Mu Chenze had also paid for the stall rental in the city.

Mu Chenze waved it off. “All I did was cover the stall fee, right? It’s just a few cents—if you’re willing to pay, I’m not willing to take it! I don’t even take the odd bits from our profit splits, let alone this! Go home and rest—your dark circles are showing!”

But Chu Xuan wouldn’t let him go. “Even between brothers, accounts should be clear. From now on, you’ll get your share of every last cent from our seafood profits. Otherwise, it’ll get messy later.”

Mu Chenze looked a little annoyed. “What’s there to get messy about? I’m the one who found the good spot for gathering seafood, so you have to listen to me! Or I’ll find a new partner! It’s just a little money, and you keep trying to give it to me. You’re making me mad!”

Chu Xuan was helpless—he just wouldn’t take the money. What a fool!

“Alright, alright! I’ll listen to you! I’ll treat you to a few more meals in the future.”

Mu Chenze immediately broke into a grin. “Now that’s more like it.”

He watched as Chu Xuan walked away with her basket.

Mu Chenze took a steamed bun from the paper bag and took a bite—delicious.

Chu Xuan hadn’t helped Feng Chunhua cause trouble for the Mu family, so he didn’t mind helping her out a bit more.

But these things couldn’t be known by his family.

At 8:30 in the morning, Chu Xuan arrived at her door and set down her basket.

The gate was locked.

Strange, why wasn’t her little brother home?

Luckily, she had brought her key.

She unlocked the door, pushed open the gate, and set down her basket.

Just then, her little brother’s voice sounded behind her.

“Jie, you’re back so soon! Did you sell everything...?”

“That’s right.”

Chu Xuan turned to look. Widow Niu was pulling a cart, with Chu Feng and Liu Zhaodi helping her.

On the cart, there looked to be about a thousand jin of skinned fish.

Chu Xuan went up to help, and before long, the thousand jin of fish were unloaded onto the concrete in the yard.

Before she could ask, Chu Feng explained, “Jie, I thought you wouldn’t be back until the afternoon, and we couldn’t delay the fish processing, so I took the initiative and brought Aunt Niu and Zhaodi to Li Tong’s to get the fish. I paid for it. The fish was even cheaper today—one thousand jin, and Li Tong only charged forty-two yuan.”

Chu Xuan was very pleased. “Well done. Go wash your hands, I’ll give you all some meat buns!”

After washing up, Widow Niu and Liu Zhaodi each got two buns. The rest went to her little brother.

Before coming back, Chu Xuan had thought about giving Widow Niu just one, since her family only had two people, while Liu Zhaodi’s had four. But now she realized she couldn’t do that.

They were all her employees—different jobs and pay were fine, but benefits had to be equal.

Widow Niu and Liu Zhaodi didn’t eat the buns right away. They wanted to take them home, but felt too embarrassed to say so.

Chu Xuan noticed and told them they could go home, and to take the cart back to Li Tong, and call people from the Wang family to come help process the fish.

They agreed and left.

Chu Feng didn’t rush to eat his buns, but went into the kitchen to heat up some herbal medicine.

He’d boiled it earlier, but it had cooled down and needed reheating.

While Chu Xuan went to the bathroom to wash her hands, the medicine was ready.

Chu Feng handed her the bowl, and Chu Xuan accepted it with a happy smile, drinking it all in one go.

She drank some warm water and then reminded him, “When Grandma Gao comes, remember to return her scale. We have a new one now.”

Chu Feng was excited. “A new scale? Let me see!”

“It’s in the basket. Careful with the weights—don’t drop them on your foot.”

Before she finished speaking, Chu Feng had already darted over to the basket and was carefully taking out the new scale, even pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the beam...

Sleepiness hit Chu Xuan, so she said goodbye and went to her room to catch up on sleep.

She woke up after two in the afternoon.

All one thousand jin of skinned fish had been processed, salted, and a quarter had already been grilled.

The fish heads were drying in the yard, the fish livers had been salted and put in a jar, and even the fish skins hadn’t gone to waste—they were set aside.

It was actually Gao Meijuan who had mentioned in passing that there were people who bought fish heads, so maybe someone would want the skins too.

So they decided to keep the fish skins.

Chu Xuan didn’t object when she saw this, because she suddenly remembered that fish skin could be specially treated to make wallets and such—maybe there really were buyers.

She soon learned that everyone had been so busy, they hadn’t even eaten lunch.

Chu Xuan immediately went to make food, but Gao Meijuan stopped her.

“No need to fuss, we already have food! Xiao Feng just steamed a pot of mixed-grain buns and made mung bean soup. With some spicy grilled fish fillets, it’ll be delicious!”

That sounded like a good idea.

So that’s what they did.

Soon, lunch was served.

Everyone ate happily.

Because she was taking herbal medicine, Chu Xuan couldn’t have mung bean soup. Xiao Feng wanted to make her some malted milk, but she politely refused, saying it wasn’t suitable with her medicine.

Water was fine. As for the spicy grilled fish fillets, she couldn’t eat those for now either, but the mixed-grain buns with pickles were tasty enough.

Widow Wang took a bite of bun and a bite of spicy grilled fish fillet, and couldn’t help exclaiming, “I’m not exaggerating—our grilled fish fillets are the best in the whole country!”

Everyone chimed in, “That’s right! The best!”

This gave Chu Xuan even more confidence—she was determined to sell her grilled fish fillets not just across the province, but all over the country!

After lunch, Liu Zhaodi, Miao Dacui, and Wang Shasha went home to rest and would come back after five.

Gao Meijuan stayed to watch the grill, and Widow Wang went to chop firewood.

Chu Xuan spoke separately with Gao Meijuan and Widow Wang.

From now on, for every two batches of fish grilled, Gao Meijuan would get one yuan.

Gao Meijuan did a quick calculation—at least twelve batches a day, so that’s six yuan.

Plus her pay for processing fish, she’d be making over ten yuan a day—at least three hundred a month.

“Xiao Xuan, that’s too much pay! At this rate, I’ll feel embarrassed to come help…”

Chu Xuan smiled and explained, “Grandma Gao, I can’t be in two places at once. I have to go to the city to sell our products and also handle the grilling and fish processing—I just can’t do it all. When Xiao Feng goes back to school in September, it’ll be even harder. If you help me out, I’ll earn a bit less, but I’ll get some rest and be able to develop the business better in the future. If you ever get tired, just have Aunt Dacui take over for you—you can take turns. Anyway, I’m leaving the grilling to you all.”

With things said so clearly, Gao Meijuan stopped protesting.

But she couldn’t help teasing, “You’re so open with my family, even sharing the marinade recipe and how to control the fire. Aren’t you afraid we’ll start our own grilled fish fillet workshop?”"